Futuremark begins game development studio

One of the most surprising announcements of today comes from Futuremark. The firm is best known for their 3DMark benchmark suite but today they announced they've formed a new games studio called Futuremark Games Studio.

The 3DMark series combines stunning 3D art with world class engines from Direct3D 6 up to Direct3D 10. "Futuremark Games Studio is committed to developing original IP games with the highest quality game play combined with our established track record of creating blow-your-socks-off visuals", said Tero Sarkkinen, CEO of Futuremark Corporation. "For years, our fans have been asking us when will we start making games. Very soon they are going to get it - and then some!"

Over the past 10 years Futuremark's team of brilliant artists and engineers has created remarkably beautiful demos and benchmarks for a variety of clients to show off the abilities of their platforms. Although the new studio will demonstrate its ability to seamlessly integrate the latest technologies into its engines, its mission is to build world class games that bring new and entertaining game play to gamers. This includes games and their engines that deliver stellar performance even on modest platforms right up to the most enthusiastic levels of performance hardware.

Futuremark Games Studio's mission statement is to produce original world class games and they say the game engine for their first game has already been under development for two years.

More info will be released within two weeks at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.